(Somerville) Lo’Jo is the sort of low-key, warmly contemporary act that suits Johnny D’s perfectly. It’s jazzy, it has a an adult pop vibe, and it fits right in with the swinging glamour of the Davis Square bar. World Music CRASHarts has again brought to Boston a band that blends old world, European charm and a thoroughly contemporary, “citizens of the world” groove. Continue reading →

Founded in Angers, France by singer-keyboardist Denis Péan and violinist and kora player Richard Bourreau, Lo’Jo’s musical adventurism is the stuff of legend. The globe-trotting French daredevils have traveled the world for 30 years, playing in remote outposts, soaking up sounds, and founding the annual Festival in the Desert in northern Mali with Tuareg rockers Tinariwen. The six-member band plays funky, dubbed-up chansons laced with a bewildering variety of jazz, pop, reggae, circus, cabaret, klezmer, Roma, West African, and Maghrebian traditions. Péan’s rough-edged Tom Waits–like voice contrasts beautifully with those of sisters Yamina and Nadia Nid el Mourid for a sound that’s totally unclassifiable but utterly enthralling.

(Somerville) The very American Johnny D’s Uptown can feel like an unlikely venue for World Music/CRASHArts. Taking the stage in turbans and garb from Northern India, Rhythm of Rajasthan prepares to play. The people at the bar look on with surprise. The patron next to me expresses hesitance, saying that he only came here this evening to catch the ball game on TV. Continue reading →

The Indian band is unusual, deriving its music from two separate cultures in the North Indian Thar Desert, the Langas and the Manganiar. Both approach their music with different styles. The Langas are more dependent on melody and their voices, using the sindhi sarangi (lute) and algoza (double flute) instead of percussion due to Sufi influence. “Langa” means “song giver.” The Mangiar, meanwhile, are dependent on the frantic, deep rhythm of the dholak (the double headed barrel drum) and the bowed kamayacha.

These two musical dialects have been combined by folklorist Nitin Nath Harsh. The band was formed in North India and have played throughout North America, including the Chicago World Festival and the 5th Annual New York Gypsy Festival. They have also performed in Shanghai, Beijing, and Jordan.

A dancer will be present at their performance Friday.

World Music, a non-profit organization that attempts to showcase world culture for the benefit of New England, launched CRASHarts in 2001. They present upwards of 70 concerts a year in an attempt to educate and bring diversity to performances in the Boston area.

(Somerville) “Let’s dance the dance of the Devil! One step forward and two step backward!” said Bruno “Sergent” Garcia through his thick French accent. It was right in middle of his performance at Johnny D’s this past Thursday and the audience, including the couples who had gotten up to dance, responded with a cheer. Then the Sergent and the Cumbiamuffin All Stars launched into their next, Caribbean, Afro-Columbian tinged
song. Continue reading →

On Thursday, Davis Square’s very own Johnny D’s will be hosting the Paris-based style-fusion artist, Sergent Garcia.

Bruno Garcia, originally a renowned, apparently hyperactive DJ, fuses the music gleaned from a European, punk upbringing in France with a passion for Latin and Caribbean rhythms. He combines jazz, reggae, hip-hop, and salsa for an energetic genre he has affectionately dubbed, “salsamuffin.” The “muffin” of “salsamuffin,” apparently, is a reference to “ragamuffin” or “dancehall,” a kind of reggae.

Garcia, himself, is named in homage to the sidekick of the fictional Zorro, Sgt. Demetrio Lopez Garcia. The musician is part of an effort by World Music/CRASHarts to bring diverse, one-of-a-kind voices and
acts to New England.

This will be Sergent Garcia’s Boston debut. He will be performing with the Cumbiamuffin All Stars at 7:30pm on May 2nd.